Bucs’ Energy, Effort Stunned Rich Gannon
November 13th, 2017
Super Bowl QB Rich Gannon talks about his time in Tampa last week
It wasn’t shocking that the Bucs beat the Jets yesterday, but it was stunning to see Tampa Bay shake off its shameful, quit-looking beating in New Orleans to look like a hungry and passionate football team.
Kudos to the collective team soul of the Bucs and to the no-flinch mentality of Dirk Koetter and his staff.
Former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, who the Bucs demolished in the Super Bowl, called the game for CBS-TV yesterday. As usual, Gannon and his broadcast mates attended practice in Tampa on Friday and met with players, coaches and team officials. That’s how it goes across the NFL. The TV broadcast guys get major league access so they can speak intelligently on the air.
Within a couple of minutes remaining in yesterday’s game, Gannon explained he thought the Bucs appeared lifeless and beaten down in practice. But he must have read the team incorrectly.
“I think we found out a little bit about the makeup, the chemistry of this Tampa team,” Gannon said.
“They lost five in a row and they came out and played hard today. They really did. They weren’t happy with what’s taken place and you got to give credit to how they battled.
“It seemed like the Buccaneers at practice on Friday were down. They were discouraged and there just wasn’t a lot of energy, yet they come out [hard]. This is the best the Bucs have played defensively all season.”
Joe also is around One Buc Palace, and the level of grit yesterday was surprised Joe like it did Gannon. Joe could speculate, but hopefully the turnaround was as simple as a bunch of guys waking up as a united group.
It happens in the NFL every year.
Now the Bucs’ challenge is to sustain it and build on it. Even without a Jameis Winston return, this team should be able to win a few more games this season.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:13 am
Run the table we can do it !
November 13th, 2017 at 6:16 am
See how much more easily sacks come when you have a lead for a change? Teams get into much more predictable playcalling (passing) and usually are far enough behind the sticks where the qb has to hold the ball a little longer…
November 13th, 2017 at 6:21 am
pewterpower is right. Hard to get sacks when other teams have leads and are running out the clock.
November 13th, 2017 at 6:27 am
The Bucs played hard for Fitz, but not for Jameis…
November 13th, 2017 at 6:44 am
Great article Joe!!!!!! Just before that, Gannon was asked what happened to the Bucs!! Which Gannon answered that there were “distractions!!!!!!!!!!!” ” It started with Hard Knocks and then the Hurricane”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow. Gannon mentioned on national TV that it hard knocks was a distraction!!!!!!!!! throw in the injuries and this is why the bucs are here!!!!!!!
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 6:56 am
I don’t know, some of that sounds like excuses to me. The effort and energy out of the defense has been missing in every single game except the Bears. For the first time in the last 5 games I watched on TV I watched a team that looked like they cared about making plays. Alexander and David were sensational. Grimes’ pick was beaufiful. Jets runners weren’t running through arm tackles and gaps. Defensively they played like professionals for first time in 5 or 6 games.
So the question has to be be asked, why did these pro’s let themselves be beat down and had their asses kicked the way they did at Minnesota, Buffalo, New Orleans and throw in the white flag?
Surely you saw no effort then and their offensive play is being mismanaged by DK. Face it, its a bad offense and he is HC because of what the offense did in 2015. What happened to him? He is mismanaging the offense with predictability, personel and outdated system. The team has bad practice habits that aren’t being coached out of them.
November 13th, 2017 at 7:11 am
The Defense won this game for us yesterday.
November 13th, 2017 at 7:26 am
The players won this game. Speaking of, I noticed the LBacking core of LVD, Kwonster and Beckwith came through loud and clear. I still don’t get it with Koetter’s offensive (stinks) play calling. The offense is following a similar developmental pattern to the defense put together by Tony Dungy. However, in the 3rd critical year, their coach is MIA. When is he going to start opening up the offense and letting them go? This nonsense of starting every game with run-up-the-middle needs to stop right now!! I turned off the radio in disgust. Glad I turned it back on to hear the win but Koetter still has this problem. Hope it ends next week against Miami. Go Bucs!!
November 13th, 2017 at 7:33 am
This is a two edged sword for the coaching staff. It is great they showed up to play yesterday.
On the other hand, the question has to be asked as to why they weren’t coached up to give full effort before the season was lost?
November 13th, 2017 at 7:41 am
Shades of last year, bad defensive showing the first half of the season, strong showing in the second half. WTH?????
November 13th, 2017 at 7:43 am
Kudos to Tapp and Clarke for making the most of their opportunity and each getting a sack.
November 13th, 2017 at 7:47 am
Kobe believes yesterday proved that though the roster has definate holes, the roster is not the cause of our 3-6 record
It is the coaching. Licht has given the coaching staff enough talent to win
Kobe Faker gives Jason licht ale another year
*every comment i wrote yesterday was delayed for jbf review. Is this permanent?
November 13th, 2017 at 7:50 am
Just posted and again….comment is awaiting moderation
Bye everyone
Last post
November 13th, 2017 at 7:51 am
It is not just on koetter,although he sometimes drives me nuts with 9 or 10 running plays on first down.But he stuck with the run which was very important on the long drive near the end of game.We won time of posession which has been a rarity.
This team has had injuries on defense that hurt our defense.
But i think the key is the QB play.For instance if Jameis comes out and starts slowly or has turnovers,then for whatever reason the defense plays like Jameis.
They are forced on the field because there are too many stalled drives and three
and outs.Hitting wide receivers deep is not outdated and Jameis needs to
improve in this area.to have a more consistant offense.
November 13th, 2017 at 7:55 am
Hopefully Jameis is learning ….it is counter productive to try and be a hero every play…take what the defense is giving you,convert 3rd downs….repeat
November 13th, 2017 at 8:05 am
Oh yes wow gotta give them credit for actually doing what they are paid to do!!! They’ll spend an extra amount of time trying to convince the world we didn’t really see what we saw for 5 weeks. Show this kind of fight when your playing someone in a race for the playoffs not a team in the basement like us and then I’ll try and trust this teams mental make-up but until then one week won’t erase what they’ve shown over 5 weeks. Need to see a big time win, something like the Kansas City game last year before they get my trust
November 13th, 2017 at 8:16 am
I don’t care if they win every game, as ugly as yesterday. All we ever asked for as a fan base, was for these guys to play hard, play vicious, play fast on defense and not turn the ball over on offense. That was vintage 1998, yesterday. Hardy any offense, the defense couldn’t wait to get back on the field and the opposition’s offense looked like they took a beating. Just play hard without any excuses…that’s all we ever asked for. Win or lose, just leave it all on the field.
November 13th, 2017 at 8:25 am
Lets go….run the freakin table….GO BUCS!!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 8:27 am
@realist
Enough of the HK BS….it’s getting old….GO BUCS!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 8:46 am
If you don’t think we would have won with Jameis yesterday, you are sorely mistaken. Fitz was pretty bad, but our defense was so good it didn’t matter. This game proved to me that Jameis is not the problem. The offense is very predictable, and never really gets in any kind of rhythm. Not to mention we may be the worst running team I’ve ever seen.
November 13th, 2017 at 8:53 am
YEAH! Lets win just enough games to screw ourselves out of a transformative player! Or the chance to fleece a team in need of a QB for a whole bunch of picks! And still miss the playoffs!
Stupid team can’t even lose right…
November 13th, 2017 at 8:57 am
Yeah a few extra cameras at practices 3 months ago is the reason the Bucs are 3-6. Only a loser at life would believe that to be the case!
November 13th, 2017 at 9:41 am
@813bucboi
I did not bring it up,,,,, Rich Gannon did on national TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 9:54 am
@touchdowntampabay
That is pretty disrespectful towards a 4 time probowler, MVP of the league and QB that lead his team to multiple playoffs!!!!
Sorry in advance that I will take his opinion over your uninformed opinion!!!!!! And if it is just “a few extra camera’s” why won’t the top coaches try and sign up for it?????
Go Bucs!!!!!!!!!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 9:58 am
Hawaiian
I would normally agree but I fear the condition of #3’s arm…he simply hasn’t looked right for awhile now.
I cannot believe anybody here is praising Fitz’s accuracy….at times it was awful and he got called out for it on the TV broadcast. He was not as accurate as #3 it’s as simple as that.
Having said that…Fitz is a gamer and an EXPERIENCED QB. Aside from the int which was a stupid decision I thought Fitz did a better job of game management than we sometimes see from #3.
All this about Koetter’s play calling. I agree that over the season he’s not been at his best…but that final game sealing TD drive was a thing of beauty. Koetter called an excellent drive including the TD play where all Fitz and Sims had to do was play toss and catch…the PERFECT play down there.
Still none of it would have happened if somebody hadn’t made a play…like Sims again with that long 3rd run that saved that drive.
We simply haven’t been making those plays this year and even our stars like ME13 have dropped critical catchable passes in that same situation.
MAKE A PLAY!!!
November 13th, 2017 at 10:10 am
I heard Gannon mention how Conte said they all watched film and discussed it as an entire defensive unit (the way we started doing it last year when we started playing good D)…
If this is the 1st time we started doing that this season, why???
C’mon man…
November 13th, 2017 at 10:28 am
Realist—also keep the context for that statement in mind. He was asked why the Bucs aren’t living up to expectations and he said HK and Irma got them off to “a slow start,” was I think he he put it. Yet the start was fine—2-1-–it was what happened after the start that derailed this team. This comment by Gannon was one of the least informed moments he exhibited on the broadcast; I found his comments to be a reach, the sort of thing you expect from an AFC-based channel that covers the Bucs once or twice a year and the Jets for every game that isn’t Prime-Time or in an NFC stadium. Hardly empirical data.
November 13th, 2017 at 11:07 am
Kobe Faker Says:
November 13th, 2017 at 7:50 am
Just posted and again….comment is awaiting moderation
Bye everyone
Last post
^^^ Bye you wacky SOB! 🙂
November 13th, 2017 at 11:36 am
Play calling…Too many running plays on 1st down. Have to mix it up. While, I’m happy the Ucks looked like they were alive, you must admit, the Jet played horribly ! My goodness, how many penalties did they have ? The Uck’s schedule gets much tougher after this game. Good news ? We still have a chance for a team altering draft pick. Would like to see Koetter and Smith stick around. Licht…Meh !
November 13th, 2017 at 12:33 pm
We’d be 6-3ish or better if the defense had played with this much heart every game this season. It really sucks that the defense decides to come out with all guns blazing effort wise when there are already 6 losses on the books only 1/2 way through the season.
Where was this effort vs Buffalo when the season was on the line and the players were in great position to do something about it???
This has very little to do with the coaching staff who with about 100 years of NFL experience between them have NOT forgotten how to coach well…
The coaches can call out bad play and bad effort and encourage/implore the players to give their all for 60 minutes once a week for 16 weeks a year. But until the players themselves decide individually and collectively that they will give 100% effort on every play – which we saw for perhaps the 1st time all season yesterday – then nothing seems to work and the losses start piling up.
The Defense controls our destiny until the Oline figures out how to consistently run block.
Koetter’s offense as well as Winston’s best QB capabilities depend on a solid if not strong running game to succeed consistently and to set up explosive plays. The offense has looked “out of sorts” most of the year – and so many keep screaming about play calling as a result. SMH people.
The OLine’s lack of consistent run blocking is the #1 culprit here. Not the QB. Not the RBs. Not the play calling. The offensive line is NOT opening holes for the RBs very often and though marginally better at pass protecting – there are too many break downs in that area as well.
Oline doesn’t get the job done – Offense looks out of sync and the playmakers can’t get in position to make plays often enough. Simple as that as the Simpleton would say.
JL better be very focused on adding young talent to both sides of the trenches this offseason.
DTs are oldish and injury prone and we don’t have enough talent at DE – especially in the pass rush dept.
Marpet and Dot are getting the job done up front on offense but the other 60% of the line is not. D. Smith continues to be inconsistent as well as a penalty magnet (always at the worst moments). Both guards (Pamphile and Sweezy) are sucking more than they are succeeding – especially at run blocking which is allegedly Sweezy’s “strength”…
November 13th, 2017 at 12:33 pm
Kobe Faker Says:
Bye everyone
Last post
——————————————-
LIAR!!!!!
But please – by all means – prove me wrong and stay gone this time…
November 13th, 2017 at 12:44 pm
I’d rather go 2-14 and be able to draft Saquon, Bradley Chubb or trade down for a boatload of picks, than go 8-8 and miss the playoffs AND a good draft pick, let alone 5-11 or 6-10 … to me yesterday felt like the team doesn’t even know how to lose the right way!
Of course … I was SHOCKED the 49’ers would beat the Giants … what a dumb win … the Giants now are in line for the 2nd pick and the 49ers in line for the 3rd rather than the 1st … I don’t understand the lack of long-term vision in NFL teams.
November 13th, 2017 at 12:50 pm
Oh I am sorry for the confusion, I was referencing someone other than Gannon when I said they were a loser at life!
November 13th, 2017 at 1:18 pm
@NFLNut
You couldn’t be anymore right, I’ve said essentially the same thing numerous times now.
It’s honestly stupid. Once again, like we did in 2015, we’re gonna win just enough games to screw ourselves out of a franchise changing player.
Imagin if Lovie had gone 3-13 that year and we had gotten Jalen Ramsey instead of Vernon Hargreaves?
November 13th, 2017 at 1:50 pm
Blake_Bucsfan,
I enjoy your posts and put you in the class of logical posters who make quality posts.
And, you are 100% right about 2015 … Jalen Ramsay would have been amazing for this franchise … or even a trade down and a boatload of picks like the Titans got after Mariota’s rookie year resulted in so few wins.
I just don’t understand fans that get excited when a team that should be tanking wins … unless we’re going to run the table and go 10-6 we are not getting into the playoffs IMHO, so why not TANK and get a truly franchise-changing star rather than another Hargreaves level talent?
November 13th, 2017 at 6:31 pm
Its telling that djax had his best game without jameis. Thats pretty sad. Jameis needs to sit and watch his own film. Then watch someone like I dont know Brady and see where he can improve. All I know is that Fitz looks like the team plays hard for him but its as if they dont believe in Jameis.
This isnt on Koetter. He needs another season
November 13th, 2017 at 8:28 pm
Kobe Faker=Oath Breaker.
He’ll be back; it’s a lead pipe lock.
November 14th, 2017 at 8:12 am
Did the team play hard for Jamies the second half of last season? This team did the same thing last year after the defense came around. That is coaching my friend. It has nothing to do with the quarterback. The truth is some of you want Jamies to fail for whatever reason.